4) Research and analysis/Case Study (600 words - 800 words) Read the article below and discuss, as an essay, how Rio Tinto can further develop their collaborative partnerships. Include in your discussion how the company can: a) effectively communicate to influence relevant individuals and stakeholders b) cultivate new and existing partnerships with stakeholders, and c) establish reporting mechanisms for partnership programs.

QUESTION:

Read the article below and discuss, as an essay, how Rio Tinto can further develop their collaborative partnership. Include in your discussion how the company can:

a)     Effectively communicate to influence relevant individuals and stakeholders

b)    Cultivate new and existing partnership with stakeholders and

c)     Establish reporting mechanisms for partnership programs

ANSWER:

Best way to influence people is to establish programs for business community that discourse relevant problems concerning individual anxieties just like for instance: unemployment, health and youth development for the advantage of both local communities and the businesses around societies. In addition, looking on such common thread that currently leaders worldwide seeing the big picture of their nation future and the way it helps their industry.

Moreover, successful organizations focus on communicating well with all internal and external stakeholders. By keeping people informed about different business activities, you can limit misunderstandings, clarify objectives and improve productivity. When communicating with stakeholders, be sure to tailor your communication based on your audience's needs and current knowledge.

Communicating effectively can improve business operations on multiple levels. Some of the benefits of communicating with stakeholders includes reducing misunderstandings around products, services and projects, ensuring timelines are met and budgets are respected, clarifying expectations from stakeholders, decreasing conflicts between groups of stakeholders, increasing commitment and investment from stakeholders.

By communicating effectively with all stakeholders. your organization can not only improve internal operations with employees, but you also can impact your relationship with external stakeholders too. Consultation and engagement typically follows a recognized three-step process: notification, consultation, and participation. The public has the right to be concerned about your project, to ask questions about it, and even to oppose it. But every person should have the correct information to form her or his opinion. Meaningful consultation that involves ongoing two-way communication with a project representative increases understanding, clarifies the community's preferences and values, and allows the proponent to understand how the public's views can and should lead policy decisions. However, organizations often struggle with communication with their stakeholder groups. It is however to consider effective communication strategy to influence relevant individuals and stakeholders.

Make sure all information regarding your project is presented in a transparent way. The more you share in an honest, factual and easy to comprehend format, the more likely it is that stakeholders will take the time to comprehend your intentions, what their role is, and how it may affect them.

Communicate with stakeholders in the manner that works best for them. Recognize that each person or community is different and select the most suitable communication channel - email, online platforms, social media, phone, or in-person group meetings. People should be offered a variety of options to communicate with you and provide their input.

Do not judge what your stakeholders value, instead seek to understand why. Keeping an open and curious attitude will help your team understand the history and concerns of your stakeholders. This open, curious attitude will help both sides reach creative solutions to overcome roadblocks, aligning values and interests in the process.

Provide feedback to stakeholders on how their interests and issues are addressed and resolved. Track commitments made to them and ensure project team members coordinate consultation events, share information, and assign tasks and follow-up actions.

Keep a careful record of all aspects of stakeholder communications that occur over time. This includes meetings, phone calls, emails, and commitments made. Misunderstandings and delays can be prevented if you can easily demonstrate the history of all aspects of communication with your stakeholders - which is especially challenging with multi-year projects that where representatives change over time. A tool like Stake Tracker helps organizations stay on top of their projects by centrally managing all communications regarding the potential impacts of initiatives on the communities in which they operate.

Implement communication strategies to represent the organization positively to media, local community and stakeholders. Use a range of influencing strategies to increase commitment from staff and stakeholders to achieve organizational requirements and to contribute to desired culture. Undertake selected community and/or professional engagements that project a positive image of the organisation to the broader community and stakeholders.

This approach is simply yet effective way, just like what  Rio Tinto established with increase experience and expertise to further work with institutions like government agencies and non-government organizations. With this new relationships were formed and advanced mutual beneficial initiatives were explored in NBA. For instance, meeting with NBA superstars Hakeem Olajuwon and Dikembe Mutombo and Mark Tatum, those players are active in African development and shared views on NBA agendas  provide such impact for corporate entities and communities. That brings hosting of the league on its very first time in South Africa last August. They observed Africa as growing market with lots of opportunities. As manifected, NBA had success in advancing their business goals by merely partnering corporate stakeholders, governments and NGOs. Thus, in Africa commitment to grow their footprint by engaging more fans, creative positive social change, and importantly adaptation their brand awareness through effective programs like NBA Cares and Basketball without Borders.

In cultivating new and existing stakeholders, it brings positive results on the business as well. In specific case, NBA Africa development programs results a significant influence on youth and unemployment. On other hand examining best practices in doing this can help a lot.

Establish outcomes to be achieved from the partnership. Partnerships are about relationships. The purpose of partnership is to achieve together what we could not achieve alone, and working in partnership requires those involved to practice a set of principles that create trust, equity and mutual accountability. In this way, partnership becomes a framework for how we do business together; it is less determined by the structure of the relationship than by the practice of certain behaviors. What is important is that risks and benefits are shared, and that the partnership is co-created. When organizations work successfully together, change can occur at a faster pace and be more effective as trust is generated, expertise and resources are pooled, learning is fostered, common issues are tackled collectively and duplication is more easily avoided. This takes time and commitment.

Analyze and apply models for effective consultation and collaboration within partnerships. Cultivate collaborative communities and partnerships through application of a range of communication solutions. And forge relationships, collaborative communities or partnerships between organizations.

In establishing reporting mechanisms for partnership programs an organization should ensure that information about risks derived from the risk management process is adequately reported, and used as a basis for decision making at all relevant levels. For this, clear reporting line mechanisms and strong inter-department knowledge sharing should be established in order to encourage accountability of risk, and to ensure reports are delivered in an accurate, consistent and timely manner. Moreover, the risk management policy should clearly state the way risk management performance will be reported.

Inadequate risk reporting can lead to a failure to fully integrate identified risks into strategic and operational decisions. The organization should report on progress against the risk management plan by proving how well the risk management policy is being followed, to ensure that risk management is effective and continues to support organizational performance.

The reporting of risks is essential for internal decision makers to integrate risk evaluation into their operational and investment strategy, to review performance, and to review compensation/reward decisions. External risk reporting has rapidly developed in recent years: corporate governance reports also focus attention on internal control, and a review of risks is generally included in the annual reports. Both internal and external audiences can be further divided into two subgroups: on the one hand, some audiences (i.e., boards of directors and regulators, among external audiences) must be informed about the organizational risks and risk management processes because of regulation or recommendations. Voluntary disclosure to other internal audiences (i.e., employees) and external stakeholders (i.e., media, citizens' associations) is recommended because of anticipated benefits to an improved decision-making.

The organization should establish internal reporting mechanisms in order to support and encourage accountability and ownership of risk. These mechanisms should ensure that: key components of the risk management framework, its effectiveness and the outcomes and any subsequent modifications, are properly disseminated; relevant information derived from the application of risk management is available at appropriate levels and times; there are processes for consultation with internal stakeholders. These mechanisms should, where appropriate, include processes to consolidate risk information from a variety of sources, and may need to consider the sensitivity of the information. Internal risk reports can either be real-time or periodic.

The main purpose of periodic internal risk reports is to provide aggregate information about various relevant organizational risks, with trend indicators and periodic comparisons highlighting changes in risks. Periodic internal risk reporting contributes to strategic oversight and decision-making, as well as improved operational business decisions. Risk information may be organized around specific key risk categories rather than around phases of the risk management process. Residual risk reporting involves comparing gross risk (the assessment of risk before controls or risk responses are applied) and net risk (the assessment of risk, taking into account any controls or risk responses applied) to enable a review of risk response effectiveness and alternative management options. Risk reporting to the board and committees should be made at least quarterly.

Like Indaba, NBA Africa occasion added authenticated what Rio Tinto has endorsed for so many years. They emphasized that collaborative partnerships are significant and critical portion on the stage of growth pathways for all stakeholders on African society and organizations.

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